KENOSHA (Wis.) — Friday’s Wisconsin court decision approved a deal by lawyers to destroy an assault-style rifle Kyle Rittenhouse used during a 2020 street demonstration to shoot three people.
Thomas Binger, Assistant District Attorney, stated that the gun would be destroyed by the state crime laboratory in April. The agreement was approved by Judge Bruce Schroeder of Kenosha County, who presided over Rittenhouse’s trial. Rittenhouse wasn’t present at Friday’s hearing.
Rittenhouse killed the men in the 2020 protest in Kenosha. He also killed Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz in his arm. Rittenhouse claimed he fired in self defense after each of the men attacked and killed him. He was acquitted by a jury of multiple charges including murder.
Mark Richards, Rittenhouse’s attorney, filed a Jan. 19 motion asking the prosecutors to return Rittenhouse’s rifle, ammunition, face mask, and any other clothing that he was wearing on the night of shooting to him. Richards and David Hancock were spokesmans for Rittenhouse. They stated last week that Rittenhouse was now 19 and wanted to destroy the rifle, throw away the rest of the items, and not use them as political symbols or trophy.
As part of Friday’s agreement, the gun will be destroyed. Binger informed the judge that Rittenhouse has received all of Rittenhouses property.
Conservatives from across the country have praised Rittenhouse for defending Kenosha against far-left militants. Liberals view him as a trigger-happy vigilante.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE
Another legal battle is underway over Rittenhouse’s bail money. Rittenhouse was released on bail after $2 million in conservatives were raised. Richards filed a motion Thursday asking for the money. He plans to split it between his law office and the #FightBack Foundation. John Pierce and Lin Wood, who represented Rittenhouse at the beginning of the case, created the foundation to raise funds for him.
Richards wants $150,000 to be returned to Ricky Schroder, the actor who donated to Rittenhouse’s defense.
Thursday’s motion was filed by the Patent and Trademark Hedge Fund Trust to claim $2 million. The trust’s lawyers argue that they are Pierce’s creditors and they should receive all of the money.
Friday’s motions were taken up by the judge, although it was not clear how fast he would issue a ruling.
After a white officer shot Jacob Blake (a Black man) in the back, demonstrators took to the streets of Kenosha for several nights in August 2020. Blake was resisting arrest in a domestic disturbance. Blake was paralysed from the waist down after the shooting.
At times, the protests became chaotic with many people setting fire to buildings. Rittenhouse, his friend Dominick Black joined a militia to defend a used car lot the night of August 25, 2020.
Rittenhouse was 17 years old and lived in Antioch, Illinois. Black bought Rittenhouse an AR-15-style rifle earlier that year, as he was too young under Wisconsin law to purchase a firearm.
According to the motion, Black agreed that Rittenhouse would acquire the rifle on Rittenhouse’s 18th birthday, January 3, 2021.
Surveillance video and bystander footage show that Rittenhouse chased Rosenbaum down just before midnight and shot him as he was closing in on him. After Huber had thrown a skateboard at him, he shot Grosskreutz. Grosskreutz then ran up to him with a gun. All of the participants were white.
Black pleaded not guilty to two citations for contributing to delinquency in a minor earlier this month. In exchange, prosecutors dropped two felony charges for intent to sell dangerous weapons to a person under 18.
